Scott v. The Ira Chaffee

• Decision Date: 26 April 1880
• Citation: 2 F. 401
• Parties: SCOTT and others v. THE IRA CHAFFEE.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Michigan

2 F. 401

SCOTT and others v. THE IRA CHAFFEE.

United States District Court, E.D. Michigan.

April 26, 1880

James J. Atkinson, for libellant.

Moore Canfield & Warner, for respondent.

In Admiralty.

This was a libel in rem to recover damages for a breach of contract made by the master of the propeller Ira Chaffee to carry a certain boiler from Detroit to Oscoda. The boiler was never actually put on board the propeller, nor delivered to her master, as master, although he received it on behalf of the schooner Louisa, on which it was laden and carried to Oscoda. It seems that the Louisa was caught in the ice and detained, whereby the arrival of the boiler was delayed. The libellant claimed damages for detention.

BROWN D.J.

Upon the argument of this case I was satisfied, from the correspondence of the parties, that a legal contract of affreightment had been made, but that nothing had ever been done by the propeller toward its execution. The boiler was never laden upon the propeller, nor delivered to any one having authority to receive it on her behalf. The question of jurisdiction was reserved.

There is an abundance of dicta to the effect that the obligation of the cargo to the ship, and of the ship to the cargo, does not arise until the cargo or some portion of it has been laden on board, or at least legally delivered to the vessel, but no case directly in point has yet been decided by the court of last resort.

Whatever be the rule with regard to contracts of affreightment, which are purely executory, it must now be considered as settled that if the ship enters upon the performance of its work, or any step has been taken towards such performance, the ship becomes pledged to the complete execution of the contract, and may be proceeded against in rem for a nonperformance. Such was the view taken by Judge Emmons in the case of The Williams, 1 Brown's Adm. 208; and although the court went much further in that case, and held that every maritime contract, from the moment of its inception, pledged the vessel to its complete performance the case cannot be considered as a controlling authority for this proposition. In that case a tug was hired to go to the assistance of a vessel which had been reported aground on the shore of Lake Huron. On arriving at the spot it was found that the vessel had been gotten off, and the tug returned home without rendering her any actual assistance. It was held that a proceeding in rem would lie to recover the stipulated compensation. I have no doubt whatever of the correctness of this ruling. I have had occasion myself to apply the same doctrine in several cases which have arisen in this district since I have been upon the bench. Judge Baxter also adopted it in the recent unreported case of the Melissa.

Prior to the decision of the supreme court in the case of The Freeman, 18 How. 182, and The Yankee Blade, (in Vanderwater v. Mills,) 19 How. 82, the question of jurisdiction in the cases of executory agreements was unsettled, and even those cases cannot be said to have definitely fixed the measure of liability. They seem rather to have announced in general terms a doctrine from which the supreme court has not as yet shown any disposition to recede.

The question does not seem to have been settled in England although in the case of The City of London, 1 Wm.Robinson, 88, Dr. Lushington was disposed to concede that 'if a seaman is engaged on board a vessel, and the owners think fit to abandon the voyage for which the seaman has been engaged, he would not be entitled to sue in admiralty for his redress, but must seek his remedy at common law, by an action on the case. ' This is the only intimation I have found upon the subject in the English admiralty, probably owing to the fact that it had no jurisdiction over contracts of affreightment until recently. The case of The Schooner Tribune, 3 Sumner, 144, decided by Mr. Justice Story, favors the view taken by the libellant here. This was a contract under which the Tribune engaged to be ready within three days to load for the libellant, and proceed without delay to Lubec to take in a cargo, and proceed to Havana. After this memorandum was made a number of cedar posts were put on board of her by the libellant, as a part of her cargo, but before the schooner sailed the owners of the vessel ordered the cargo so laden to be put on shore, and attached it under process for an asserted debt due them on a former voyage, for which they insisted libellant was liable. The charterer proceeded against the vessel, and Mr. Justice Story held her liable-- First, upon the ground that the agreement constituted a charter and not a preliminary contract; and, second, because a portion of the cargo was actually taken on board, and the voyage was voluntarily broken up by the owners of the vessel. Here, again, however, there was a part performance, which was evidently considered a material fact, although the opinion is not expressly put upon that ground. Indeed, the court intimates (page 149) that the question of jurisdiction depended rather upon the maritime character of the contract.

The case of The Flash, Abbott's Adm. 67, was very similar. The master of a New York vessel contracted at the port of New York to transport a cargo across the East river to Brooklyn. He took a part of the cargo on board, but afterwards refused to take on the residue or to deliver that already laden. It was held that an action in rem would lie, both for the refusal to receive on board and the refusal to deliver. While a portion of the cargo was actually laden on board, the court apparently sustained the jurisdiction (page 70) upon the authority of the master to contract for the employment of the vessel, and upon the general doctrine of the maritime law that the vessel is bodily answerable for such contracts of the master made for her benefit. In the case of The Pacific, 1 Blatch. 569, the libellant had contracted for a passage to California; had prepared for the voyage at considerable expense, went to New York at the time appointed for sailing, and found that the accommodations were not such as he had bargained for, and that the vessel was overcrowded and dangerous to life. He declined to embark and demanded back his passage money, which was refused. He then filed a libel in rem for a return of the passage money and for his damages. Objection was made to a recovery upon the ground that at the time of the filing of the libel no cause of admiralty cognizance had arisen; that to give jurisdiction over a maritime contract the ship must have entered upon the performance, and the breach must have occurred in the course of the performance. Mr. Justice Nelson held this objection untenable, and said that the obligation resulted directly from the contract and not from the performance, which is simply in fulfilment and discharge of it. 'The owner is bound as soon as he or the master settles the terms upon which the ship is to enter upon the service, and it is difficult to perceive why the liability of the latter should be postponed till the inception of the performance. ' The reasoning of this case is, undoubtedly, in favor of the libellant. But it would seem that the decision might also be supported upon the ground that the libellant himself had partly performed his contract by the payment of his passage money, and his preparations for settlement in California. I do not deem the case inconsistent with the other authorities, which hold that in cases of purely executory contracts the libellant cannot proceed against the vessel.

All of these cases were prior to those of the Freeman and Yankee Blade. In the case of The Freeman, 18 How. 182, the question arose as to the liability of the ship for contracts made upon the faith of fraudulent bills of lading given by the...